We come over to the USA for 5 to 6 Months in the year from England.
This is our First year of 5th Wheeling, we bought a 1990 7.3IDI F350 to pull a Challenger 30ft
weighing in at 11,800 Lbs GVRW.
Just had some dicussions in another section about towing our rig, it appears that we might not have bought the right towing vehicle, although we were assured by a dealer that it was OK.
from the advice we have had and reading betwen the lines it seems that we should consider having
a Turbo fitted, I would like to know if theres anyone out there that can comment on this , and what cost are we looking at for a turbo, and as we
only intend to do this for about 3 Years is it worth it.
I haven't towed this rig yet because of the Bad weather at the moment, but I am a little concerned
that I might not have made a good choice

 

The older 7.3 IDI's won't perform as well as the power strokes, but you do have enough engine and truck for your trailer. You'll be fine.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 01-14-03 AT 01:47 PM (EST)]The early 7.3s were a little different to drive than most oil burners ive driven. When heavily loaded you need to keep your rpms up in a higher range than most others to get it to pull. The low to midrange torque seemed a little lacking in those rigs. With a heavy load i often compared it to a Detroit, wind it tight, and drive it like you stole it. But that was with alot more weight than youre gona be dealing with, and pulling in the hills. I dont see you having any problems with that setup.

Tony Warren
Nebraska

 

I don't see any problems, just don't plan on setting any land speed records and you'll be fine.

My biggest concern would be brakes.

IMO, I would take the truck in and have new brakes put on, and then run the truck a bit with out the trailer to get them broke in.

Oh yeah, a good brake controler is a must, if you don't already have one.

 

Out of the Ford Towing Guide the max trailer weight for a 5'er in a regular cab,7.3 automatic, 4.10 gears is 11,400 lbs. Same truck but a Supercab is 11,100 and crewcab is 10,900. If you have a standard transmission the weight is reduced alot to the 8,000 lbs area. If you have the 3.55 gears the weight is reduced to the 6500 lbs area. At any rate, you are overloaded with this truck if your trailer weight is accurate. I would suggest you take it a certified scale to find the exact weight.

 

And make sure the trailer doesn't get loaded to the GVWR. If you do this, you should be within your towing capacity for the truck.